Chapter Text
It was another ‘having fun’ weekend for Song Lan and Xiao XingChen. Or more accurately Song Lan got dragged by Xiao XingChen to accompany him yet again to another place with a horror story. Today is a villa just next town which rumored to have a spirit guarding the place.
The spirit is said to be very old and had haunted the villa for so long. Sometimes people would see a shadow run along the hallway frantically as if looking for something. Sometimes people would hear a chopping sound from the kitchen and various other occurrences.
The villa ownership had switched around from one to another. Some even tried to get rid of the spirit but failed. The last person that took the ownership was said to be the original family of the villa owner, so they just rented it to whoever interested in experiencing the strange occurrence.
And the horror enthusiast Xiao XingChen couldn’t let the chance go. However, there is one big problem, Xiao XingChen is actually a scaredy cat that doesn’t have any guts to go alone. Thus, he dragged his best friend Song Lan to accompany him to this villa.
Truthfully Song Lan didn’t buy all of the stories that those places gave since he thought they only sold those stories in order to gain customers. But he still couldn’t say no to his best friend. Since he didn’t have anything to do anyway, he finally agreed to go with him.
But Song Lan still felt bored when Xiao XingChen forced him to stay in the living room past midnight to wait for the said spirit to come out. “I think they wouldn’t come out tonight.”
“Umm… maybe the sweets aren’t enough?” Xiao XingChen seems to be disappointed.
“Why did you bring those anyway?”
“The owner said that the spirit likes sweet so…”
“I never heard of anything like that. Isn’t it supposed to be an ancient spirit and not xiao gui?”
“I supposed.” Xiao XingChen said nudging various chocolates, cookies, and cakes that he bought to attract the spirit to come out.
Then the old clock in the corner started to go off with loud bangs. It’s already 3 am in the morning and nothing seems to happen thus far.
“OK, that’s it I’m going to sleep.” Song Lan stood up to leave.
“But...”
“XingChen the sun almost comes out, I don’t think anything would happen at this point.”
Sighing, Xiao XingChen couldn’t help but admit that his best friend is right. Reluctantly, he stood up and went to his own room to sleep.
When Xiao XingChen almost reached deep sleep, he startled awake as all the lights in his bedroom suddenly went off. The room doesn’t have any nightlight so he had to leave the lights on. The caretaker did remind him that sometimes the light fixture will go off as it is very old.
He really didn’t like sleeping in complete darkness as it made him feel uncomfortable. The moonlight that came from a small window in the middle of the room didn’t allow him to see clearly. He made a mental note to bring his own nightlight next time he went to these places before pulling the blanket up to his chin to make himself feel saver before going back to sleep.
He had just started to drift off when he heard an inaudible noise which surprised him again.
“Huh?! Song Lan is that you?” Confused, he woke up and opened the door to check. The hallway is empty and dark as some of the lights also went off. He walked to the room next door and knocked it to call his friend.
“What happened?” Half sleeping Song Lan opened the door.
“Did you call me?”
“Huh? No.”
“Umm I thought I heard something. Never mind then…”
“Maybe it’s just the wind.”
Xiao XingChen gazed at the small window at the end of the hallway. The wind was indeed pretty strong and the trees that were shaking were indeed making some noise. “Yeah, maybe.” Dejected Xiao XingChen went back to sleep in his room.
But long after he heard another soft noise. “DaoZhang…”
Thus, the ever-timid Xiao XingChen went back to Song Lan's room. “I… I don’t think it’s the wind…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I… I heard it saying something like DaoZhang or something… I don’t know.”
Song Lan eyed his best friend suspiciously. “I think you are just being paranoid.”
“I…” Xiao XingChen couldn’t say anything as he was half asleep when he heard the noise.
“Just clear your mind and go back to sleep.”
With a heavy step, Xiao XingChen went back to his room. He tried hard not to think about anything. Puff his pillow a few times, flip it and close his eyes to sleep.
“DaoZhang…”
He heard it clearer this time. Surprised he sat on his bed, eyes darted across the dark room trying to see anything. Not long after, he went back to knock on Song Lan’s door.
“What?!” Song Lan is annoyed this time.
“I… I heard it clearer this time… I’m sure of it.”
“But I didn’t hear anything.”
“But…” Xiao XingChen doesn't know what to do anymore, so he just used his eyes to plead for his friend to understand.
“Arrrrccchhh… Alright. I’ll just sleep in your room. OK.” Defeated Song Lan take his own pillow and went to Xiao XingChen bedroom to sleep on the couch.
With Song Lan on the couch, Xiao XingChen felt relieved. So, he went back to sleep with a lighter heart.
“DaoZhang…”
The voice whispered right on his ear this time. It is as clear as it can be. Xiao XingChen opened his eyes wide in fear. Chill ran around from the back of his neck to the top of his head. His heart beating fast. He didn’t dare to move even an inch. He lay facing the wall, so he wasn’t sure that whoever whispered into his ear is still around or not.
“Song Lan…” Xiao XingChen whimpered almost crying. But his friend seems to be out of it and clearly didn’t hear anything. Scared he closed his eyes, put the blanket over his head and tried to calm himself down. It took so long before he finally fell asleep from fear and exhaustion.
But his mind had not forgotten everything. Even in his dreams, he was still haunted by the same voice. However, the voice now had a clear image of a youngster with very beautiful appearance wearing black traditional clothing and long ponytail. His canine smile appeared wicked and his red eyes were filled with unexplainable hunger.
Xiao XingChen tried to run away from the nameless man. His heart racing and he was breathing hard. He ran and ran and ran without any clear view on the surrounding until he stumbled and fell.
But the man in black robe reached out with a hand that seems to be missing a pinky. Getting nearer and nearer with every step that echoed on Xiao XingChen ears. “Finally, I found you, DaoZhang…”
Those were the last words that Xiao XingChen heard before he jerked himself awake from the fear. His pajamas were drenched in sweat. Heart pounding, he panted uncontrollably.
He swept the sweat on his forehand with the back of his hand. He tried to calm down by telling himself that it was only a nightmare. Before long, his breathing and heartbeat are even.
Looking around he noticed Song Lan already went back to his own room. Thus, with a grunt, he stood up and prepared himself to go back home.
---
Another Monday came and Xiao XingChen had to go back to school. He felt very tired as he still remembered the nightmare vividly. Even though he didn’t get the exact same dream, he still couldn’t sleep well last night.
All he wanted right now is for the class to end even though it had only begun a few minutes ago. The teacher had just announced a new student which made the whole class excited. Xiao XingChen just eyed them lazily and slumped onto his desk when the new guy entered the class.
But his body instantly jerked back up. Wide eyed, he could recognize the boy from miles away as he had just seen them a couple of nights ago. And if his mind doesn’t play trick on him, the person standing in front of the class and introducing himself as Xue Yang right now is none other than the person that chased after him in his nightmare.